Qué (What, Which)

¿Qué? is the Spanish question word for what and, in some contexts, which. It is invariable — it never changes for gender or number — and it always carries a written accent when used as a question word.

Asking "what is X?"

The most basic use of ¿qué? is to ask for a definition or identification of something.

In these examples, qué stands alone as a pronoun. It is the direct object (or subject) of the verb, and the speaker is asking the listener to name or describe something.

Qué + noun = "what / which + noun"

When qué is placed directly before a noun, it means what or which. In this pattern, Spanish uses qué much more readily than English uses which.

This is the simplest and most common way to ask a which question in Spanish. Learners who are tempted to reach for cuál in front of a noun should pause — qué + noun is almost always the natural choice.

Qué vs. cuál before a noun

Compare these two structures carefully:

In Latin America, placing cuál directly before a noun (¿cuál libro?) does occur in speech, but standard written Spanish prefers ¿qué libro?. See cuál for the full story.

Qué with prepositions

Prepositions come before qué, never at the end as in casual English.

Spanish never strands prepositions. What are you talking about? becomes ¿De qué hablas? — literally Of what do you talk?

Exclamations with qué

¡Qué! also introduces exclamations, meaning how or what a. It still keeps its accent.

In exclamations, you can insert tan or más between qué and an adjective for emphasis: ¡Qué día *tan largo! (*What a long day!).

Indirect questions

Qué keeps its accent even inside statements that report a question.

The rule is simple: if the word is asking a question — directly or indirectly — it takes an accent. If it is a relative pronoun (the book *that I read*), it does not.